Diamondbacks Acquire Zach Duke

The Diamondbacks have acquired left-hander Zach Duke from the Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later, according to an Arizona team press release. The player to be named later is "a mid-level prospect" who can't be named due to the roster freeze leading up to the Rule 5 draft, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. If this player is actually taken in the Rule 5 draft, Piecoro says the Bucs and Snakes "have agreed to other players" to be dealt to Pittsburgh.

Duke, 27, was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh last week following a rough 2010 that saw the southpaw post a 5.72 ERA in 29 starts for the Bucs. A lifetime Pirate, Duke has a career 4.54 ERA in 160 games (159 of them starts) and a 1.88 K/BB ratio in six major league seasons. He provides Arizona with a veteran innings-eating option for their rotation, though his career-high 1.4 HR/9 last season might be of greater concern if he's going to be pitching at Chase Field.

Piecoro reports that the D'Backs will try to sign Duke to a contract worth less than his $4.3MM salary in 2010, and if the two sides can't come to an agreement by the tendering deadline, Duke will be non-tendered. (Both Twitter links)

Thanks man much appreciated. I’m a pitcher, but I’m really a thrower. Do you play? And you should definetly major in sports management or something like that. You know your Baseball dude. I didn’t know you were a high school senior. There are so many of us young guys on here

honestly dude, i work for the u of a – and went to asu…asu has way better film/television options at this point. you’ll be downtown, close to chase field and all the hot ladies…tucson is the armpit of arizona.

Abreu is valued very highly in Arizona, therefore, I would be shocked to see him acquired for the mediocre at best Zach Duke. Towers has Prioritized the bench and bullpen, to see him deal our top bench player would be a step backward.

Not even a few weeks, but more like a few days. Basically, the DFA sped up the timetable, meaning the Pirates had 10 days to trade or pass Duke through waivers(assignment to the minors or unconditional release).So, after a few more days, if no one else had traded for him, he either would have a)been given his unconditional release, becoming a free agent or b)been outrighted to the minors, and if refused, he becomes a free agent as well.Which makes for a head scratcher as to why Arizona is going to send a PTBNL to Pittsburgh, especially if they non-tender Duke anyway.Also, I wonder if we’ll see several more non-tender candidates given a DFA over this Thanksgiving weekend just as Duke was, as teams try to get something in return for the DFA’ed players before giving up and releasing them. Just a thought.And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here. 🙂

Every year there are always pitchers who breakout someway or another…He might be one of those guys. Actually I change my mind…But Arizona is at least a pressureless situation in some way shape or form. I’d be interested to see how Dan, Barry, Jarrod, and Ian benefit from his presence.

Don’t mind this at all. Aside from HR/FB and BABIP, his metrics looked basically on par with what he does in his career. Get a few grounders, keep the ball in the zone, allow a ton of contact, and soak up innings. You can do a lot worse for a #4/#5 starter. Heck, the dude’s a year removed from accumulating 4.5 WAR over two years. With the cost being a no-future prospect, I see no reason why not.

I’m kind of luke warm on this. Duke in Chase isn’t a good fit. He must just have bad luck, pitching for the Pirates and now going to a bandbox. I realize he doesn’t have much upside anymore but it seems like he could have some success if he pitched for a good defensive team in a big ballpark. Sure, anyone could have success to some degree in that setup but Duke could use that kind of an environment to get his career back on track. I don’t see that happening in AZ.

Well assuming the PTBNL has zero upside most likely isnt the case. Both organizations must feel as though he could get taken in the Rule 5 draft if they exchanged additional names if such an event took place. Just thinking out loud here, but it makes sense that the player will be as described..”mid level prospect”

I am not sure why the thoughts are that the PTBNL will be a low level/minimum upside prospect. Last year when the Pirates released Matt Capps, there was a significant amount of interest in his services, and he was an excellent signing by the Nats, parlayed into an excellent trading chip with the Twins. I see the same/better potential upside in acquiring and/or signing Duke, off a down year. From the rumblings, there appears to have been more than a few teams wishing to add Duke as a possible starter this coming season for their teams. There was competition for his services (and would have been much more with FA status), and my suspicion is that Pirate management took advantage of this…. moving him to Arizona to receive a prospect of much greater potential than many would presume for the pitcher that Pittsburgh did not wish to pay for.